Marketers and sales reps are often at odds. Tense square offs seem like High Noon in conference rooms. Marketers are heavily invested in brand integrity, while sales reps focus on closing the sale. The Harvard Business Review analyzes the cultural conflict between Sales and Marketing deftly:

“(Marketers) are all about building competitive advantage for the future. They judge their projects’ performance with a cold eye, and they’re ruthless with a failed initiative. However, that performance focus doesn’t always look like action to their colleagues in Sales… They live for closing a sale. It’s hardly surprising that these two groups of people will find it difficult to work well together.”

We have to remind ourselves we’re all on the same team.

Marketers and sales reps need tools that work for both parties. And those tools aren’t nearly as expensive as you would think, which makes the people in the corner offices happy, too.

• Email Campaigns – Using email campaign tools to create interesting, relevant content directed at leads, past clients or even friends of the company go a long way. Effective campaigns not only improve your company’s reputation, but also result in more leads for your reps. Subscriptions to services such as Constant Contact or Mail Chimp often are less than $100 a month. Working together, sales reps and marketers often come up with the best content that improves the brand and brings clicks to your website.
• Mobile apps and cloud software – CRMs are now on the cloud and can be accessed anywhere on any device, as are office and sales apps. Okay, you knew the shameless plug was coming: Showcase seriously is a great tool for both sales reps and marketers. Sales reps have a reliable quote/order tool and marketers can fill the app with the most up-to-date, stylish marketing materials. It’s the buffet of sales and marketing functionality: something for everyone.

Sales reps and marketers don’t need to gather around the campfire and sing “Kumbaya,” but working together really can lead to bigger and better returns – and a more successful business.